Red Bulls’ Dax McCarty could play vs. Columbus Saturday

The New York Red Bulls are one step closer to full strength as stalwart veteran midfielder Dax McCarty continues his recovery from a fractured knee cap.

In fact, he could be available for the club as soon as this Saturday.

Red Bulls coach Mike Petke told reporters that McCarty trained “in full” on Tuesday; a hopeful development in the midfielder’s path to first team minutes.

“As far as this weekend goes, if he continues to progress in the next three days like has over the past couple of weeks and continues to be in full every day, there’s really no scenario that’s off the table, as far as starting, as far as coming off the bench, anything’s possible,” Petke said.

Of course, the Red Bull boss also made sure to measure expectations if McCarty does indeed make this weekend’s match.

“Obviously it’s not very easy for him being out this long just to jump back in and be ready to start and be ready to go 90 minutes of course,” Petke warned. “It’s a very positive sign that he was in [Tuesday practice] full, he did work on the days off the last couple of days.”

If McCarty does earn minutes, it will be his first since playing through a knee fracture against Sporting KC on May 27th.